Chapter 87: In the End, He Still Had to Rely on Himself

Although Huang Yan said he would no longer concern himself with Madam Guo, he still ordered people to continue investigating the case.

Two days later, the three Guo children were found in an abandoned house north of the county.

All of them were dead.

Perhaps it was a mother’s intuition.

Not long after the yamen runners found the corpses of her three children, Madam Guo also ended her life by smashing her head against a wall in her prison cell.

After hearing the news, Huang Yan sighed.

“Give their entire family a proper burial.”

Everyone had assumed that the matter would temporarily come to an end here, and that no new developments would occur until the demonic Daoist appeared again.

But events suddenly took an unexpected turn.

Just as the yamen runners were burying the family of four, He Yumao of the Longwind Escort Agency returned with several escorts.

After returning to the escort agency and hearing what had happened from the escorts there, he rushed directly to the graves of his wife and children.

He knelt there for a long time and cried until he fainted.

When he woke up again, he was already in the court hall.

A crowd of people stood around him.

Huang Yan sat in the seat of honor, looking at him coldly.

“He Yumao, where have you been during this period?”

He Yumao sat on the floor, his eyes bloodshot.

He tried to stand, but two yamen runners nearby immediately forced him back down with their staffs.

He Yumao did not dare resist.

Looking around, he said in a hoarse voice,

“These past few days, I have been hiding in Jin City.”

“Weren’t you dead?” Huang Yan snorted. “Someone reported seeing the skeletons of everyone from the Longwind Escort Agency out in the wilderness. One of those skeletons was even wearing your clothes.”

He Yumao wore a bitter expression.

“I had two other sets of clothes for changing. One brother’s clothes got dirty, so I gave him the spare set I had left. The one who died was him, not me.”

“Then how did you survive?” Huang Yan asked again.

“Those wilderness ghosts appeared very strangely.”

Remembering that night, He Yumao could not help shuddering.

“They were everywhere. Under normal circumstances we shouldn’t have been able to see them, but everyone saw them.”

“The men, women, old people, and children we were escorting all went mad and ran in every direction.”

“Some stripped off their clothes and started copulating on the spot, regardless of age or gender. Others went completely insane and bit anyone they saw. At that time, a few brothers and I still had some clarity left, so we kept running in one direction. We ran a very long distance. Only when daylight came did we dare stop.”

Then he began crying.

“My lord, it wasn’t that I didn’t want to save them. I simply couldn’t.”

“No matter what, eighty-two people died because your Longwind Escort Agency failed to protect them. You must bear responsibility for this crime. Imprison him for now and try the case on another day.”

After snorting, Huang Yan continued,

“Seal up the Longwind Escort Agency. Inventory and sell all its property. The silver obtained shall be used to compensate the relatives of those eighty-two deceased.”

He Yumao was imprisoned.

His outcome would probably not be a good one.

Meanwhile, all the Spirit Hunters gathered in the rear courtyard of the county yamen.

Huang Yan looked at everyone and said,

“The matter involving the Longwind Escort Agency was caused by that demonic Daoist. In truth, they were victims as well.”

Everyone nodded.

Huang Yan continued,

“The most urgent matter now is for you to find that demonic Daoist.”

“His flying-head barbarian technique is very troublesome.”

At this moment, Huang Yan took out a command token and placed it on the table.

The token was long and resembled a rod, with bronze-colored patterns engraved upon it.

“A True Lord Token. ”

Huang Yan said,

“Find that demonic Daoist and strike him with this. As long as it touches him even slightly, the True Lord will see him. After that, the rest can be left to the True Lord.”

Everyone relaxed.

That made the plan much more feasible.

Huang Yan looked toward Li Lin.

“Since that demonic Daoist is targeting you, spend these next few days acting boldly and wandering around everywhere. The others will watch over you in secret. Understood?”

Everyone cupped their fists.

Huang Yan departed, while the Spirit Hunters remained behind to discuss the issue of rotating shifts.

It was impossible for everyone to protect Li Lin all the time.

Naturally, there had to be rotations.

Very quickly, the eight of them divided themselves into four groups.

Zhao Xiaohu also wanted to help, but was sent back to the village.

He was still too young, and his strength was insufficient.

Li Lin’s life over the following days became very casual.

During the day he wandered around outside.

At night he rested at home.

More than ten days passed like this, yet the demonic Daoist never appeared.

Even the Spirit Hunters secretly protecting Li Lin had begun to relax somewhat.

Until one evening, after Li Lin finished strolling through the marketplace and was preparing to return home.

He suddenly felt the surroundings fill with coldness.

Looking around again, he discovered that all the pedestrians had vanished.

Only he remained on the entire street.

The surroundings were terrifyingly silent.

There was not a single sound.

In the distance, the scenery had become blurred and indistinct, as though a layer of mist obstructed his vision.

Li Lin tried walking forward.

The moment his foot touched the ground, an Pa! sounded around him.

It seemed as though some sound was synchronizing itself with his footsteps.

Li Lin took another step forward.

Again came an Pa!

This time the sound was louder and clearer.

At the same time, he felt as though someone had lightly stepped on his heart.

His heart palpitated.

It felt as though he might suddenly die at any moment.

Frowning, he looked around.

Then he released his little paper figurines.

Previously, he had also used the little paper figurines to search for that demonic Daoist.

The first time, before the Daoist transformed into the flying-head barbarian, the method had worked.

But after becoming a flying-head barbarian, the Daoist was no longer vulnerable to that approach.

More than a dozen little paper figurines hopped around Li Lin.

They tried to move outward.

However, once they left a certain radius around Li Lin, blue flames ignited on their bodies and reduced them to paper ash.

Li Lin froze for a moment and put the face-mask onto his face.

Only then did he see several clusters of invisible flames burning around him.

Those little paper figurines had caught fire after touching those flames.

But Li Lin found it strange.

Those flames were invisible and so dangerous.

Why weren’t they thrown directly at him?

Instead, one cluster was here and another cluster was there.

He stepped forward once more.

Pa!

The strange sound rang out again.

Li Lin’s heart felt as though someone had stepped on it once more, and with greater force than before.

Frowning deeply, Li Lin began thinking.

After a while, he took out a folded sheet of paper from his clothes.

After unfolding it, it became a large paper figurine.

He infused yin energy into it.

The paper figurine immediately came alive.

“Tree Immortal Lady, I’ll have to trouble you again this time.”

As soon as Li Lin finished speaking, the paper figurine’s eyes turned bright crimson.

She cast a somewhat reproachful glance at Li Lin.

Then she suddenly seemed to frown.

The paper figurine’s eyebrows were drawn on and could not actually move.

Yet that was exactly the impression it gave.

The “Tree Immortal Lady” looked around to both sides, puffed out her cheeks, and blew a breath at the surroundings.

All of the invisible flames vanished.

Then the paper figurine pointed into the distance.

Afterward, it slowly collapsed onto the ground.

The yin energy was gone.

So quickly?

Could it be that the expenditure just now had been too great?

Li Lin picked up the paper figurine and infused yin energy into it once more.

But this time the paper figurine gave no response.

What was going on?

Li Lin was somewhat puzzled.

Then the paper figurine in his hands broke apart into countless scraps of paper and drifted to the ground.

Only then did Li Lin remember.

There was a limit to how many times paper figurines could withstand infusions of yin energy.

Moreover, this paper figurine had already served as a vessel for the Tree Immortal Lady twice.

The fact that it had lasted until now was already impressive.

In other words, from this point onward, he would have to rely on himself.

Li Lin looked toward the direction indicated by the Tree Immortal Lady.

Then he walked over.